Empathy
Empathy is the magical ability possessed by an Empath to experience the emotions of others without direct contact with them, as if they were actually feeling what one was feeling and for the same reasons. This power is very versatile and vast in nature, with many abilities stemming from it. The Wielder would be extremely formidable, which may be why Phoebe and Prue (for a short-time) while both empaths, have only shown aspects of the power but never it's entirety. This power can be used in a Offensive, Defensive and Supportive capacity. Someone with empathy can later develop the power of Advanced Empathy. Phoebe is the only known person whom possess both of these powers. Trigger Usually, in the early stages of gaining this power, it's very uncontrollable and most users receive empathic vibes automatically. They can be overwhelmed by the emotions they are feeling and by compelled to act them out. As the users embrace this gift, they will gain more control over it and will be able to turn it on or off at will. If the empathic energy is strong enough, users will automatically get a empathic hit, overriding their control and will. Phoebe meditates to control this power. Reading Emotions Users merely activate their power an concentrate on the mortals, magical being or even creatures (ie) dragons and read the emotions. Users will be able to read the intent or desire behind the emotions and know what the person want or desire.As witnessed in the season 6 episode "Forget Me...Not". Other begins with malevolent intent might worried when they are around empathic begins; due to the fact that the users can find out any secrets that being hidden.As witnessed in the season 6 episode "Valhalley of the Dolls, Part 1". Users can read and sense emotions from different planes of existence and depending on the strength of the emotions, great distances. Users can also use emotions to escape alternate realities created by desires.As witnessed in the season 6 episode "My Three Witches". Depending on the strength of the empathy power, the users can both hear and feel people's emotions, like a telepath. As witnessed in the season 3 episode "Primrose Empath". As this power grow stronger, users will be able to sense and read emotions from vast distances. As witnessed in the season 6 episode "Forget Me...Not". The only way to block users from reading your emotions is with an empathy blocking potion. Chris and the sisters used a potion to block their emotions. Mordaunt (unseen) found a way to block his feelings and in-effect his true intentions from being read, either by using a spell or potion. However, Phoebe wasn't able to read the mortal Cal Greene's emotion, even though he didn't take anything to block her power.As witnessed in the season 9 comic "Morality Bites Back". Abilities within the Power Empathic Healing Empaths have a unique healing ability. They are said to be able to use their power to heal people, by using the Empath's intimate knowledge of what the person is feeling or has gone through and offering them advice or comfort. They may also possess the whitelighter form of healing, to heal physical wounds with their hands. Father Thomas told the sisters that he tricked the demon vinceres, but laying his hands on the demon as if to heal him. However, he gave the demon his empathy power instead. Channeling Powers Magical beings' powers are tied to their emotions and powerful Empaths can channel them through Empathy (such as Telepathy). Channeling powers through Empathy works by feeling the same emotion that others feel, and then accessing their powers to deflect them, or temporarily use them as well as if they have copied the power.As witnessed in the season 6 episode "Valhalley of the Dolls, Part 2". Users can channel powers through their hands or with the power of their mind. This is the most powerful ability stemming from this power. High Resistance through Empathy Powerful users with empathy has this ability, it causes them to be resistant to other lethal powers.This allows them to survive attacks by weapons and various powers, (including their own) and magic from other magical beings -- Witches, Valkaries and Demons. Before becoming on Empath, Phoebe had a limited form of this power. However, after she gained the power of Empathy she also gained a much stronger version of this ability, due to her gift. With Empathy she has a high resistance to any power that she is channeling. When she fought Piper in Vahalla, she was able to withstand Piper's telekinetic attacks, three in total. In fact they barely had any effect on her, unlike Paige, whom Piper flown aside with just one wave of her hand.As witnessed in the season 6 episode "Valhalley of the Dolls, Part 2". This is one of the most useful ability stemming from the power of empathy. Power Augmentation through Empathy Powerful users with empathy has this ability, since all powers are tied with emotions, a person with the power of empathy can amplifying their own powers by channeling a massive amount of emotions into them, in affect making their powers stronger and themselves more powerful. Prue Halliwell displayed this ability after she temporarily gained the gift. Her telekinetic powers evolved to the degree where they significantly enhanced her agility and flexibility, allowing her to perform gravity-defying maneuvers and spectacular martial-arts feats. Her power of astral projection also evolved into Cloning. As witnessed in the season 3 episode "Primrose Empath". This is one of the most highly desirable ability stemming from the power empathy. Strength and Control Having a greater strength and control of this power is usually referred to as advanced empathy. There are many different aspect of this power and as a person grows stronger, their power will advanced. Wielding it to its fullest, the possessor can feel or sense emotions from great distances and different planes of existence. They will also be able to heal people and even give themselves a power boost. The Wielder would be extremely formidable, which may be why Phoebe and Prue (for a short-time) while both empaths, have only shown aspects of the power but never it's entirety. This power has been shown having varying strength, depending on the user. Phoebe has shown that her empathic gift is very strong. When a dragon attacked the city, she felt a large empathic burst of pain and fear from the people under attack while she was at home. She was even able to read the dragons emotions. Phoebe was also able to sense and feel her sister Piper while she was on a different plane of existence, the ghostly plane. She mentioned that she would be able to sense if her sister was dead, even if she wasn't there or even on the same plane. Phoebe is also the only one with this power who can use it to control and use other people powers. As her power grows stronger she will be able to wield this power to it's fullest. Phoebe Halliwell Phoebe gained this as her third power at the start of the six year of her being a witch. This power is also connected to her premonition power. She never went through the struggle her sister Prue did, as she was always meant to have this power. She quickly learn to control the flow of the emotions and actively block the emotions that others were subconsciously sending to her. It's very useful in finding out when people are lying or keeping secrets from her. She also uses her it to help the people who write to her. She also learned how to channel, using her empathy in both offensive and defensive ways. Since all powers are emotion based, she learned to channel powers as well as emotion. She uses this to shield herself against attacks, by controlling and using the powers of others. Phoebe regains her empathy power a almost four years after she lost them. As witnessed in the season 9 comic "Innocents Lost". She regained her gift through the couple Romeo and Juliet while she was at work. She later mentioned to Piper that the return of her gift was triggered by extreme emotions. Insanity and Demons This power can also drive someone insane, if they weren't meant to possess it. Demons also can't possess this power, due to the fact that they can't handle human emotions. It would destroy them or eventually drive them insane. Prue accidentally received the power of empathy from a demon called Vinceres through the use of a spell. Although she was fine with it at first, eventually, as it's range expanded, she was unable to control it developing to the point where she was constantly taking in the emotions of the surrounding San Francisco area. With the help of the Father Thomas, Prue was able to get a grip on the incoming emotions, channelling them into her other powers in order to help her battle the unstoppable demon Vinceres. Spells To Release an Empath from his Gift :Free the Empath, :Release his gift, :Let his pain be cast adrift. *''(It is important that when casting the spell there is no physical contact with the Empath as the power will transfer in the caster of the spell ("Primrose Empath").'' To Revive a Cut-off Feeling via Empathy :Open (name)'s heart to reveal, :That part which only (name) feels, :Send it back from whence it came, :But don't protect her from the pain. *''(Empathy and the method of Pathokinesis were both used to get Piper to feel again. Phoebe channelled Piper's emotions through empathy, which then allowed Paige to use her spell to project/send the emotions back onto Piper.'' List of Users Notes * Chris revealed that there is a potion to block an empath from reading them. The potion is hard to make since it requires a Kotochul egg which can be found in Swamp Land ("Love's a Witch"). * Empathy falls under three categories of power: Offensive, Defensive and Supportive. * Phoebe is the only known person to possess the evolved form of this power, Advanced Empathy. * In Witchness Protection, when Phoebe tries to find information about the Avatars through Kyra by touching her, the jingle used for when Empathy is activated is heard. This possibly indicate that she regained her empathy much earlier than thought. But as she never displays it, and never speaks of it even, the sound may be just there for a dramatic effect. * The sound is actually quite different for the sound of Phoebe's empathy. The sound they showed could simply be Phoebe's intuition power at work as during that episode she did have her premonition powers back. See Also * Empath * Telepathy * Emotions Refrences Category:Powers